UBA Capital changes name to United Capital

Shareholders of UBA Capital Plc yesterday approve the change in the name of the company to United Capital Plc, paving the way for the investment banking and capital markets group to conclude the process of name change.

At an extraordinary general meeting held in Lagos, directors and shareholders of the company approved the change in the name.

Speaking at the meeting, chairman, UBA Capital, Mr. Chika Mordi said UBA Capital has a proud heritage as one of Africa’s leading financial services companies.

According to him, the group would build on its heritage and use its new brand identity as a catalyst to create greater values.

UBA Capital was until recently a member of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group. It was spun off and its shares distributed to existing shareholders of UBA in compliance with the new banking regime that requires banks to form holding company structure to hold non-core commercial banking subsidiaries or divest from such businesses. It was subsequently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

UBA Capital offers four services including investment banking, asset management, trusteeship and securities. In 2013, it was named the Best African Investment Bank at the Africa Investor Awards.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is rounding off year-end review of its key group and sectoral indices. These included the NSE 30 Index, NSE 50 Index and the five sectoral indices- the NSE Banking Index, the NSE Consumer Goods Index, the NSE Oil & Gas Index, NSE Industrial Goods Index and the NSE Insurance Index. The composition of these indices after the review will be effective on January 1, 2015. The review will witness the entry of some major companies and exit of others.

Major highlights of the review included the replacement of five companies in the NSE 30 Index. Fidelity Bank, FCMB Group, Total Nigeria Plc, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria and Ashaka Cement Plc are being replaced by Seven-Up Bottling Company, Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Unity Bank, Sterling Bank and Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. The NSE 30 Index tracks the 30 most capitalised companies on the NSE and largely controls the overall market situation.

The NSE-30, NSE-50 and NSE Industrial Indices are modified market capitalization index with the numbers of included stocks fixed at 30, 50 and 10, respectively. The numbers of included stocks in the NSE-Consumer Goods, Banking, Insurance and Oil/Gas Indices are 15, 10, 15 and 7, respectively.